What We Do >> Events >> The Songlines Conversations
The Songlines Conversations
Australian Stories about People and Place
Live ABC Radio National Event
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Forget the flag, the Crown, or even the ubiquitous Akubra – what about
the land itself as a defining symbol of national identity?
As the
Outback captures the world’s imagination framed as a Hollywood movie
set, what place does it now hold in Australian culture? What lessons –
or perhaps even values – are there for all of us, buried in red earth
and white sands?
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Respected oral historian, writer
and radio producer Gregg Borschmann continues his exploration of
landscape and culture with six more outstanding Australians in Series 2
of ABC Radio National’s The Songlines Conversations.
The conversations
- with guests including John Doyle, John Williamson and Diane Bell -
were recorded live at the historic Carrington Hotel, Katoomba, in
the Blue Mountains.
The Songlines
Conversations were an attempt to go beyond the clichés and conflicts, to
find out how ‘country’ shapes, challenges and nurtures us - if we give
it the chance.
“The Australian landscape has long
been a source of wisdom and lore for human society,” Borschmann says.
“As much as a physical place, it’s been an idea, a set of values, a
holy book written in ochre and stone. But, despite our cutting edge
science, is our country more romanticised and misunderstood than ever
before? Do we really know it’s power, it’s mystery or even how it
works?”
Six extraordinary Australians talked
about the land and their lives, including satirist, writer and broadcaster John
Doyle; singer songwriter John Williamson; ‘secret women’s business’
anthropologist Diane Bell; the woman who put the National Museum of
Australia on the map, internationally recognised museum director Dawn
Casey; one of the world’s most renowned experts on coral reefs,
Australian scientist John (Charlie) Veron; and master self-taught
linguist of Central Australian languages, Linda Rive.
The series was broadcast mid-year as part of Radio National’s Big
Ideas program, with the first broadcast on Sundays at 5pm and Tuesdays at 1pm.
The Songlines Conversations were recorded live at The Carrington Hotel, Katoomba on the following schedule:
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Sunday, 19 March, 11am John Williamson
- Monday 27 March, 7.30pm John Doyle
- Monday, 10 April, 7.30 pm Diane Bell
- Tuesday, 11 April, 11am Linda Rive
- Monday, 24 April, 7.30 pm Dawn Casey
- Tuesday, 25 April, 11am John ‘Charlie’ Veron
